How to Survive the Oregon Trail -- 5th ed.
Rule @1 -- There are no guarantees. You could do everything right and still die along the way. Be emotionally prepared for that, lest you fall into an "it's not fair" funk. Heck, that's how the Oregon Trail really was -- misfortune could strike even the ablest of travelers. So I can not guarantee that following my advice will get you safely to your destination. However, after playing the game more times than I care to admit, I have made some observations about what choices will greatly increase your chances of survival while playing the fifth edition of the Oregon Trail computer game.
Rule #2 -- Be a banker. Period. Before you set out on your journey -- heck, before you even start preparing for your journey -- the game offers you scores of different professions your wagon leader could be. The game will confuse you by explaining that each profession has its pros and cons. A doctor, for example, allegedly has a better chance of curing sick family members (and yes, as the journey goes on, people will get sick, it's unavoidable), while a carpenter has a better chance of, say, fixing a broken wagon wheel. Don't be fooled. How often party members get sick or injured, or how often your wagon breaks down, and so on, seem to be purely random events. More to the point, your ability to cure the sick or injured party member or fix the wagon also seems to be random, regardless of what skills your chosen profession provides. Now, for all I know, there may be some probability matrix that is part of The Oregon Trail's gaming program, but I've played this game dozens of times now, and if being a doctor really makes your character more likely to cure someone, or a carpenter more likely to mend a broken wagon wheel, or a butcher more successful at properly cutting up your hunted meat -- I haven't seen any evidence. Besides, if you really want some of these skills, you can choose them as "extra" skills that your banker has somehow learned before setting out for Oregon. It still doesn't seem to make any difference one way or the other, but I tend to stock up on extra skills, more out of superstition than anything else.
"So," you may ask, "if the skills of your profession don't make a lick of difference, why does it matter if you're a banker?" Because, my inquisitive friend, bankers start out with more money. A lot more. And if you really want to be cynical (i.e., "realistic") about it, this game reflects the real world in one glaring way: Success in life depends a lot less on your skills, and a lot more on how much money you've got when starting out. Yes, much of the events that occur in your journey across the Oregon Trail will be random, but for the events that aren't random, money seems to be a decisive factor nearly every time. Note that every single remaining rule in this guide has money at the center of it.
Trust me, running out of money in this game sucks big time. If you have money, every city, fort, store, town, and trading post is a place where you can stock up on much-needed supplies that can literally bring you and your family members back from the brink of death. Without money, you simply have to make do with whatever little you already have or can scrounge from the wilderness. And it would be a mistake to put too much faith in the bounty of the wilderness.
Rule #3 -- Stock up on food, firearms, and ammunition. You can survive without anything else, but without food, you will get sick and eventually die. So before you set out, and again at every place that sells it, stock up on as much food as you can, because it will always run out more quickly than expected, often at the most inconvenient times. (If you're a day away from a trading post, no big deal, but if it's the middle of winter, and you're weeks away from civilization, a sudden discovery that you're low on food can be a deadly problem.) Personally, I enjoy stocking up on a variety of foods just for the heck of it, but unless your characters are starving to death, the only foods that make any practical difference during game play are meat, fruit, and vegetables, so if you have to make a choice while food shopping, always buy more meat, fruit, and veggies, and less of other food products such as bread, crackers, etc.
If you're starving to death, the bread and crackers are certainly better than nothing, but you can have a mountain of such foods and still start to suffer from ill effects if your characters go too long without meat, fruit, or veggies. My advice: If you have to make a choice, buy more fruits and veggies than meats. Why? Two reasons. First, nearly every trading post seems to have some kind of meat for sale, while fruits and veggies are surprisingly rare. Second, you can always hunt for more meat, and hunting is kind of fun, sort of like a game within the game. Gathering plants in the wilderness, however, is a pain in the neck. You have to look up every plant in the guidebook to prevent poisoning, and no matter how many plants you gather, they never seem to last more than a day or two. Furthermore, while hunting can be done in any climate, plants grow increasingly scarce in colder weather, and a long winter can spell disaster for the traveler who hasn't brought enough vegetables with them.
And speaking of hunting, stock up on firearms and all kinds of ammunition. I know nothing about antique firearms in real life, but I know that in this game, the use of any kind of firearm depends on the availability of buckshot, bullets, and gunpowder; you need all three (as well as the firearm itself, of course) for any given weapon to work. This is vital, because no matter how well stocked you try to be, you will eventually run out of meat, and hunting is often the only way to get more. Having a knife is cool, but the game doesn't allow you to hunt with it.
There are plenty of other things you can buy. Some, such as furniture, games, and musical instruments, are clearly pure extravagance, whose only practical use in the game is for boosting morale. Other items, such as blankets, winter clothes, and medicines, would seem to be necessities. Don't be fooled; just because something would be vital for survival in real life, doesn't mean it's necessary in the game. In the harsh winters of The Oregon Trail, someone with three extra layers of clothing may freeze to death as quickly as someone in their everyday outfit. And as for buying medicines, remember what I said about the pure randomness of how this game treats illness and injury? The bottom line is you will end up never needing most of the medicines that are sold in this game. Other medicines, such as laudunum, seem to be always available whether you buy them or not. And whether your patient will get worse or recover depends less on your medical supplies and more on your decisions along the way. (Should the concussion patient exercise or rest? Should the snake bite be cleansed or tourniqueted? Etc.) In short: Spend your medicine money on food instead. Many illnesses encountered on the trail, such as scurvy, stem from malnutrition.
I'll give this game credit for being sneaky. The first few times I played this game, I dismissed games and musical instruments with a laugh every time I saw them on sale at a store. Then I noticed that the game constantly monitors morale, and the guidebook claims that games and instruments can keep morale up. So I started buying this stuff to boost morale, only to learn that the potential morale boosts that allegedly come with having games and instruments never came into play. Why not? Because when morale dips, it's typically because of either a lack of food, or due to health problems (which, in turn, are also usually due to a lack of food). In short, if you're budgeting, spend your morale money on food, since a lack of food will devastate morale, while a lack of games and music barely makes a dent.
(Despite all of this, I personally like to spend money on medicines, winter clothes, and extravagances anyway, despite the knowledge that they will never be of any practical use in the game. But that's just me. What can I say, I just like getting into character, and my character would want that stuff!)
One more thing about keeping your supplies stocked: The game allows you to trade with other travelers and townspeople at almost any given time. The nearly constant opportunity to trade is misleading. Unless you are absolutely desperate, do not, do not, do not depend on this as a method of getting what you need to survive. People who are willing to trade with you rarely have the exact item you need, and when they do, their prices are often steep. If you must trade, keep an eye on your supplies, and make sure that you're not trading away something that you need. Twice now, I've been tricked into trading away an ox, only to realize that I now couldn't go anywhere, because my remaining oxes weren't strong enough to pull the wagon without their comrade.
And speaking of oxen, that leads me to . . .
Rule #4 -- Use oxen, not horses or mules. The game's "helpful" guidebook will go on and on about how each of these animals has their pros and cons as pack animals, but it simply ain't so. Horses may be faster, but unfettered speed don't mean a damn thing if they're tied to a wagon that's too heavy for them to pull. Oxen can carry a heck of a lot more (and they will have to, since any properly stocked wagon is going to weigh an awful lot) than horses or mules, they cost a lot less, and, unlike their more equestrian cousins, oxen can be more easily turned into edible meals should they die along the way. Considering how much more useful they are than horses, I can't figure out why oxes cost about a tenth as much. Maybe horses are just for suckers?
Rule #5 -- When crossing a river, use bridges and ferries whenever you can. Yes, it costs money, so you may sometimes find yourself asking, "how do I know if I can afford it?" Let me put it this way: If the ferry costs three dollars, and all you have left is three dollars, spend the three dollars on the damn ferry. Whatever money you spend on the bridge or the ferry will be worth less than all of the supplies you will lose if you try to cross the river on your own, and you end up tipping over. After careful study, I've learned that caulking the wagon and attempting to float across the river has a roughly 50% chance of success, while attempting to ford or wade across is even less likely to succeed. Crossing on a ferry has an almost 100% rate of success. Use the damn ferry.
Rule #6 -- Check the hill before ascent or descent. Remember what I said about there being no guarantees, and that these rules were more about increasing your chances? This rule embodies that statement more than any other. Yes, it's possible to blindly careen forward and still avoid tipping over, and it's equally possible to take the time to make careful preparations, only to smash the wagon on the rocks anyway. Shit happens. But I've learned that taking the time to evaluate a hill's rockyness, slipperyness, and steepness does increase your chances of getting the wagon over a hill in one piece.
Rule #7 -- donations: Occasionally, you may run into other travelers who ask for charity -- they need food or other supplies, and can not (or will not) offer anything in return. Be generous if you want to feel good about yourself, but keep in mind that there is no practical or karmic pay-off; it is charity, and the game never reverses the situation; no matter how desperate you get, nor how dire your situation may be, no one you encounter on the trail ever, ever offers to give you anything for free.
Rule #2 -- Be a banker. Period. Before you set out on your journey -- heck, before you even start preparing for your journey -- the game offers you scores of different professions your wagon leader could be. The game will confuse you by explaining that each profession has its pros and cons. A doctor, for example, allegedly has a better chance of curing sick family members (and yes, as the journey goes on, people will get sick, it's unavoidable), while a carpenter has a better chance of, say, fixing a broken wagon wheel. Don't be fooled. How often party members get sick or injured, or how often your wagon breaks down, and so on, seem to be purely random events. More to the point, your ability to cure the sick or injured party member or fix the wagon also seems to be random, regardless of what skills your chosen profession provides. Now, for all I know, there may be some probability matrix that is part of The Oregon Trail's gaming program, but I've played this game dozens of times now, and if being a doctor really makes your character more likely to cure someone, or a carpenter more likely to mend a broken wagon wheel, or a butcher more successful at properly cutting up your hunted meat -- I haven't seen any evidence. Besides, if you really want some of these skills, you can choose them as "extra" skills that your banker has somehow learned before setting out for Oregon. It still doesn't seem to make any difference one way or the other, but I tend to stock up on extra skills, more out of superstition than anything else.
"So," you may ask, "if the skills of your profession don't make a lick of difference, why does it matter if you're a banker?" Because, my inquisitive friend, bankers start out with more money. A lot more. And if you really want to be cynical (i.e., "realistic") about it, this game reflects the real world in one glaring way: Success in life depends a lot less on your skills, and a lot more on how much money you've got when starting out. Yes, much of the events that occur in your journey across the Oregon Trail will be random, but for the events that aren't random, money seems to be a decisive factor nearly every time. Note that every single remaining rule in this guide has money at the center of it.
Trust me, running out of money in this game sucks big time. If you have money, every city, fort, store, town, and trading post is a place where you can stock up on much-needed supplies that can literally bring you and your family members back from the brink of death. Without money, you simply have to make do with whatever little you already have or can scrounge from the wilderness. And it would be a mistake to put too much faith in the bounty of the wilderness.
Rule #3 -- Stock up on food, firearms, and ammunition. You can survive without anything else, but without food, you will get sick and eventually die. So before you set out, and again at every place that sells it, stock up on as much food as you can, because it will always run out more quickly than expected, often at the most inconvenient times. (If you're a day away from a trading post, no big deal, but if it's the middle of winter, and you're weeks away from civilization, a sudden discovery that you're low on food can be a deadly problem.) Personally, I enjoy stocking up on a variety of foods just for the heck of it, but unless your characters are starving to death, the only foods that make any practical difference during game play are meat, fruit, and vegetables, so if you have to make a choice while food shopping, always buy more meat, fruit, and veggies, and less of other food products such as bread, crackers, etc.
If you're starving to death, the bread and crackers are certainly better than nothing, but you can have a mountain of such foods and still start to suffer from ill effects if your characters go too long without meat, fruit, or veggies. My advice: If you have to make a choice, buy more fruits and veggies than meats. Why? Two reasons. First, nearly every trading post seems to have some kind of meat for sale, while fruits and veggies are surprisingly rare. Second, you can always hunt for more meat, and hunting is kind of fun, sort of like a game within the game. Gathering plants in the wilderness, however, is a pain in the neck. You have to look up every plant in the guidebook to prevent poisoning, and no matter how many plants you gather, they never seem to last more than a day or two. Furthermore, while hunting can be done in any climate, plants grow increasingly scarce in colder weather, and a long winter can spell disaster for the traveler who hasn't brought enough vegetables with them.
And speaking of hunting, stock up on firearms and all kinds of ammunition. I know nothing about antique firearms in real life, but I know that in this game, the use of any kind of firearm depends on the availability of buckshot, bullets, and gunpowder; you need all three (as well as the firearm itself, of course) for any given weapon to work. This is vital, because no matter how well stocked you try to be, you will eventually run out of meat, and hunting is often the only way to get more. Having a knife is cool, but the game doesn't allow you to hunt with it.
There are plenty of other things you can buy. Some, such as furniture, games, and musical instruments, are clearly pure extravagance, whose only practical use in the game is for boosting morale. Other items, such as blankets, winter clothes, and medicines, would seem to be necessities. Don't be fooled; just because something would be vital for survival in real life, doesn't mean it's necessary in the game. In the harsh winters of The Oregon Trail, someone with three extra layers of clothing may freeze to death as quickly as someone in their everyday outfit. And as for buying medicines, remember what I said about the pure randomness of how this game treats illness and injury? The bottom line is you will end up never needing most of the medicines that are sold in this game. Other medicines, such as laudunum, seem to be always available whether you buy them or not. And whether your patient will get worse or recover depends less on your medical supplies and more on your decisions along the way. (Should the concussion patient exercise or rest? Should the snake bite be cleansed or tourniqueted? Etc.) In short: Spend your medicine money on food instead. Many illnesses encountered on the trail, such as scurvy, stem from malnutrition.
I'll give this game credit for being sneaky. The first few times I played this game, I dismissed games and musical instruments with a laugh every time I saw them on sale at a store. Then I noticed that the game constantly monitors morale, and the guidebook claims that games and instruments can keep morale up. So I started buying this stuff to boost morale, only to learn that the potential morale boosts that allegedly come with having games and instruments never came into play. Why not? Because when morale dips, it's typically because of either a lack of food, or due to health problems (which, in turn, are also usually due to a lack of food). In short, if you're budgeting, spend your morale money on food, since a lack of food will devastate morale, while a lack of games and music barely makes a dent.
(Despite all of this, I personally like to spend money on medicines, winter clothes, and extravagances anyway, despite the knowledge that they will never be of any practical use in the game. But that's just me. What can I say, I just like getting into character, and my character would want that stuff!)
One more thing about keeping your supplies stocked: The game allows you to trade with other travelers and townspeople at almost any given time. The nearly constant opportunity to trade is misleading. Unless you are absolutely desperate, do not, do not, do not depend on this as a method of getting what you need to survive. People who are willing to trade with you rarely have the exact item you need, and when they do, their prices are often steep. If you must trade, keep an eye on your supplies, and make sure that you're not trading away something that you need. Twice now, I've been tricked into trading away an ox, only to realize that I now couldn't go anywhere, because my remaining oxes weren't strong enough to pull the wagon without their comrade.
And speaking of oxen, that leads me to . . .
Rule #4 -- Use oxen, not horses or mules. The game's "helpful" guidebook will go on and on about how each of these animals has their pros and cons as pack animals, but it simply ain't so. Horses may be faster, but unfettered speed don't mean a damn thing if they're tied to a wagon that's too heavy for them to pull. Oxen can carry a heck of a lot more (and they will have to, since any properly stocked wagon is going to weigh an awful lot) than horses or mules, they cost a lot less, and, unlike their more equestrian cousins, oxen can be more easily turned into edible meals should they die along the way. Considering how much more useful they are than horses, I can't figure out why oxes cost about a tenth as much. Maybe horses are just for suckers?
Rule #5 -- When crossing a river, use bridges and ferries whenever you can. Yes, it costs money, so you may sometimes find yourself asking, "how do I know if I can afford it?" Let me put it this way: If the ferry costs three dollars, and all you have left is three dollars, spend the three dollars on the damn ferry. Whatever money you spend on the bridge or the ferry will be worth less than all of the supplies you will lose if you try to cross the river on your own, and you end up tipping over. After careful study, I've learned that caulking the wagon and attempting to float across the river has a roughly 50% chance of success, while attempting to ford or wade across is even less likely to succeed. Crossing on a ferry has an almost 100% rate of success. Use the damn ferry.
Rule #6 -- Check the hill before ascent or descent. Remember what I said about there being no guarantees, and that these rules were more about increasing your chances? This rule embodies that statement more than any other. Yes, it's possible to blindly careen forward and still avoid tipping over, and it's equally possible to take the time to make careful preparations, only to smash the wagon on the rocks anyway. Shit happens. But I've learned that taking the time to evaluate a hill's rockyness, slipperyness, and steepness does increase your chances of getting the wagon over a hill in one piece.
Rule #7 -- donations: Occasionally, you may run into other travelers who ask for charity -- they need food or other supplies, and can not (or will not) offer anything in return. Be generous if you want to feel good about yourself, but keep in mind that there is no practical or karmic pay-off; it is charity, and the game never reverses the situation; no matter how desperate you get, nor how dire your situation may be, no one you encounter on the trail ever, ever offers to give you anything for free.
posted by Movie Man at
8:11 PM
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